Mnuchin delayed Harriet Tubman $20 bill even as design work was well under way, report says

Design work on a Harriet Tubman $20 bill was already well under way when Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said its release would be delayed from 2020 until 2028, The New York Times reported Friday.

Mnuchin delayed releasing the new bill out of concerns that President Trump would create more controversy by canceling the bill, the Times reported, citing current and former department employees who declined to be named.

Mnuchin, in a statement released Friday, said it was "completely erroneous" to suggest that the bill's release was being stalled.

Harriet Tubman, circa 1870

HB Lindsey | Underwood Archives | Getty Images

Design work on a Harriet Tubman $20 bill was already well under way when Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said its release would be delayed from 2020 until 2028, The New York Times reported Friday.

Mnuchin delayed releasing the new bill out of concerns that President Donald Trump would create more controversy by canceling the bill, the Times reported, citing current and former department employees who declined to be named.

Mnuchin, in a statement released Friday, disputed the notion that the bill's release was being held up and said that the timetable "has not been changed."

"As Secretary, my first responsibility is to ensure all security and anti-counterfeiting measures are properly taken in accordance with [the Bureau of Engraving and Printing's] mandates," Mnuchin said. "The suggestion that this process is being stalled is completely erroneous."

Bureau of Engraving and Printing Director Len Olijar released a statement denying that any official "'scrapped'" anything.

Trump was a vocal critic of the plan to put Tubman on the $20 bill, which originated under President Barack Obama. While campaigning Trump called the move "pure political correctness." He proposed putting her portrait on the $2 bill instead.

Tubman was a prominent abolitionist, who was born into slavery and escaped, and later helped liberate other slaves along the Underground Railroad. Trump has often praised President Andrew Jackson, who is currently displayed on the $20. Advocates have campaigned for Jackson's replacement due to his policies persecuting Native Americans and other matters.

Mnuchin said in May that the bill was delayed because anti-counterfeiting measures would not be ready for a 2020 release in response to questions from Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., at a House Financial Services Committee hearing.

Before the delay, designers were "far along" in the process and had completed a preliminary design of the bill. They created digital images of it, and completed metal engraving plates for use in printing the bills, according to the Times, which cited a current employee of the bureau "who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter."

The plan to redesign the $20 bill with Tubman's image on it was first announced by then-Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew in April 2016. The decision was driven by "thousands of responses from Americans young and old," Lew said in a letter at the time.

"I have been particularly struck by the many comments and reactions from children for whom Harriet Tubman is not just a historical figure, but a role model for leadership and participation in our democracy," Lew said.

Prior to Mnuchin's announcement that the Tubman bill would not be introduced in 2020, members of Congress introduced legislation to back against what Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., called "needless foot-dragging" on the project by Trump's Treasury Department.

The Times also released an image of a $20 bill featuring Tubman, which it said was provided by a former Treasury Department official. Olijar pushed back on that, too.

"The illustration published by the New York Times was a copy of an old Series note with the signatures of former officials, with a different image imposed on it. It is not a new $20 note, as incorrectly stated by the New York Times, in any way, shape or form," Olijar said in a statement. "The facsimile contained no security features or offset printing included on currency notes. There is nothing about that illustration that even begins to meet technical requirements for the next family of notes."

The redesign of the $20 bill featuring Harriet Tubman will no longer be unveiled in 2020, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says.

The unveiling had been timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. Mnuchin said that the design process has been delayed, and no new imagery will be unveiled until 2028.